Bullying
Around the nation, incidents of bullying in our schools and universities have been on the increase. Children everyday wake up and are afraid to go to school. Children and young adults are being killed or resorting to suicide as a tragic result of being bullied. While many different efforts to keep up with the plague and thwart the bullies have also increased, these seem like a band-aid to a very serious problem. Bullying is a violent problem with grand implications about our youth and society. Through examination of the problem, I believe that with more thorough education by our churches, schools, parents, and legislators; we can maximize our communication tools to reduce abuse. For that to be possible, there must be an increase in the government’s spending to begin addressing bullying and safe schools (Rudolph, 2010).
Bullying is relentless and can create a state of constant fear for the victim. What often begins as a small bit of poking fun or annoyance for an individual, over time can then escalate into something more psychologically detrimental. Two of the main reasons people are bullied are because of their appearance and social status (“Dealing with Bullying”, 1995). Bullies pick on people they think don’t fit in, maybe because of how they look, act, their race, religion, or sexual preference. Some bullies attack their targets with physical abuse, which can mean anything from tripping or shoving to punching or hitting, or even sexual assault (“Dealing with Bullying, 1995). Verbal bullying can also be any form of torment, harassment, humiliation, or otherwise targeting by another child using the Internet or other interactive technologies such as a cell phone. This is also known as Cyberbullying.
Studies show people who are abused by peers are at a higher risk for mental health problems, such as low self-esteem, depression, stress or anxiety. Victims are also much more likely to think about suicide (Heyboer, 2010). Consider the case of Asher brown, late last month. Asher Brown, who was an eighth-grader at Hamilton Middle School in Cy-Fair ISD, shot himself in the head with his stepfather's gun. His stepfather and mother said that the boy was bullied by his classmates, who mocked gay, sexual acts on him, during gym class. The day before his suicide, classmates tripped him down a flight of stairs (Mellon, 2010). Aan additional example is the tragedy of a freshman from Rutger University, Tyler Clementi. Clementi was caught in a private moment with another man by a webcam set up by his roommate. The roommate used Twitter to further encourage others to go view the video he posted to watch Clementi’s encounter. Once Clementi learned about this, he turned to members of a gay web forum for advice on how to deal with the situation. Finally, he posted a short suicide note on Facebook saying, “jumping of the gw bridge sorry” before leaping to his death. Clementi’s death triggered a new set of concerns about cyber bullying (Heyboer, 2010).
In the long term, bullying is a form violence, and it often will lead to more violent behavior as the perpetrators grow up. It is estimated that one out of every four bullies in elementary school will have a criminal record by the age of thirty (“Dealing with Bullying”, 1995).
Clearly, quick action must be taken by parents, educators and our leaders to help both the bully and victims. On the State level, many anti-bullying bills died before they even reached a vote last year. One called for the creation of a complaints hot line, while another required student bullies be sent to alternative disciplinary schools. There have been other failed bills that ordered schools to ban cyber-bullying and to inform parents if their children were involved in an incident (Mellon, 2010).
State Representative Mark Strama, a Democrat from Austin, said he plans to reintroduce his 2009 comprehensive anti-bullying bill, which would require schools to report information on incidents. The plan of this is to create an environment that is more sensitive and aware to the issue. Strama also declared the importance of including cyber-bullying in the law to give districts concern over harassment that might be online but carry over into schools (Mellon, 2010). The U.S. Department of Education announced on October 5th the awarding in grants of $38.8 million to 11 states from a new Safe and Supportive School program. The timing came just after the suicides of five teenagers. At least four of the teens were bullied for being gay or perceived as gay. The Safe and Supportive Schools grants announced are to “measure school safety” and “to help intervene in those schools with the greatest safety needs”. The program requires the states to survey the schools, direct money to solve the issues, resurvey, and make the results public (Rudolph, 2010).
The Safe and Supportive Schools grants are a step in the right direction, but these grants are only the beginning. Instead of using these millions to measure school safety, perhaps a huge marketing campaign, similar to the DARE or Red Ribbon anti-drug program would be much more successful. These programs would begin at the elementary school level and continue through high schools with money being used for Public Service announcements, speakers, assemblies and total involvement by the whole community. Every year one entire week is devoted to Red Ribbon week in the schools and all children are aware of what this signifies. By using our money efficiently through print, radio and television marketing outside and inside our school system the payoff will come in the form of more awareness. While the legislation is important, bullying will only stop when peers decide it isn’t “cool” to be friends with the bully. This can be accomplished by supporting educational programs that applaud all the differences among our youth.
Works Cited
"Dealing With Bullying." KidsHealth - the Web's Most
Visited Site about Children's Health. Web. 13 Nov. 2011. .Dehaan, L. (1997). Bullies. Retrieved from http://www.ag.n dsu.edu/pubs/yf/famsci/fs570w.htm.
Mellon, Ericka. "Some in Texas See a Fighting Chance for
Anti-bully Laws | Houston &Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle." Houston News ,Entertainment , Search and Shopping | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle. Web. 13 November 2011 7241083.html>.
Rudolph, D (2011). Lawmakers trying to take on byllying again. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.keennewsservice.com/fed- grants-awarded- to-begin-addressing-bullying-and- safe-schools/
"Tyler Clementi's Suicide: Bloggers on Cyber-bullying and Lessons
Learned in theRutgers Webcam Case | NJ.com." Blogs - NJ.com.
Web. 13 Nov. 2011. clementis_suicide_blogge.html>.
In my child psychology class, I learned about bully prevention. According to the given online course http://pathwayscourses.samhsa.gov/bully/bully_2_pg1.htm
ReplyDeletebullys are less likely to attack others when adults intervene AND if bullys quantitatively figure out that bullying someone costs more in consequences than in benefits. You do clearly offer that parent intervene and I was hoping for effective ways on how parents can prevent bullying. Like when should adults come in? However, I understand this essay was restricted in word count. Nonetheless, interesting essay.